Comedian Exposes 'Shocking' US Legal Doctrine
In a powerful segment on his show Last Week Tonight, John Oliver turned his satirical gaze towards America's controversial felony murder laws, describing the system as 'shocking' for incarcerating people for murders they didn't technically commit.
The host began with his characteristic dark humour, noting that murder was 'the thing that cats are constantly plotting' before delving into the serious legal issue that has seen numerous individuals receive life sentences without directly causing anyone's death.
How Felony Murder Charges Work
Oliver explained that felony murder occurs when 'felony plus a death equals a murder charge' - even if the defendant didn't intend to kill anyone and wasn't the actual perpetrator of the killing.
'You don't have to be an active participant in a killing to get charged,' Oliver emphasised during the segment, highlighting the broad scope of these laws.
He illustrated this with a particularly striking case where a man received life imprisonment without parole merely for lending his car keys to his roommate. When the car was used in a burglary where someone died, the key lender faced the same murder charge as the actual participants.
Disproportionate Impact and Historical Context
The comedian revealed that since 1985, 11 people have been executed as a result of felony murder convictions, despite not being the direct killers. 'We clearly shouldn't be executing people for murder if they didn't murder someone,' Oliver stated bluntly.
He traced the origins of the law back to England, joking that 'like so many horrid things in American culture, it actually came from England' - though Britain ultimately abolished the practice while America expanded it.
The segment highlighted how these laws apply in 'an astonishingly broad array of circumstances,' including cases where people face charges for being present when friends overdose on drugs.
Oliver described felony murder as a 'quiet driver of mass incarceration' that disproportionately affects minority communities. In New York, for instance, accomplices who haven't been charged with directly killing anyone are 34 times more likely to be Black.
The Youth Impact and Flawed Justification
Many defendants are remarkably young, with Oliver calling it 'the quintessential juvenile crime' involving teenagers and people in their twenties. He contrasted normal places you'd expect to find teens - 'a high school, an Olivia Rodrigo concert, Matt Gaetz's texting history' - with the shocking reality of young people locked away for felony murder.
The supposed justification that these laws act as a deterrent was thoroughly debunked, with Oliver noting studies show they don't reduce re-offence risks. 'It's hard for something to be a deterrent if no one knows about it,' he argued, comparing felony murder laws to Apple TV shows: 'Sure, there are tons of them out there but most people have no fucking idea they exist.'
Oliver concluded that the 'solution is actually pretty simple: just get rid of the felony murder charge.' While acknowledging that some states are limiting its use and some convictions have been overturned, he noted these reforms mostly benefit white defendants.
'No one is arguing that people who commit a felony should go unpunished,' Oliver clarified, 'but they should be punished for the crime they committed.'
